oh, hello

GRE = dominated. thesis draft = submitted. now it's just 2 research papers, 2 take home finals, and editing my draft between me and graduation!!

i rewarded myself after my long week of studying after the GRE with a little shopping/ exploration trip. lately i've been doing a pretty good job of buying mostly used things (minus the occasional trip to target-- but after awhile of bargain shopping, $20 for a tshirt just isn't appealing anymore). and buying second hand doesn't just limit you to goodwills-- at least not in winston-salem or charleston (though the goodwills are above average too, in my opinion). i found a new shop today and the owner (who stayed open an extra half hour late just for me-- another wonderful thing about local businesses) mentioned that she was putting out her christmas display soon.

-- Which got me thinking about gift giving this year. I've always felt pretty grinchy about christmas-- i have trouble seeing past all the piles of discarded gift wrap trash, the pressure to buy your kids the latest video game, and representing sentiments with "stuff". don't get me wrong, i love stuff, but it does take away from more pleasant parts of the holiday.

the very very very worst thing about christmas, however:

is the invention of inflatable yard decor.

and if you're reading this and are the proud owner of one of these monstrosities, tough cookies. i will not apologize for judging you. just be happy knowing i dont keep a pair of scissors handy in the glove box. not yet, anyway.

putting aside (for a moment) my unyielding loathing of tacky brightly colored nylon heinousness, i will say that christmas isn't totally terrible. presents are fun (as long as they don't replace quality time and/or get blown out of proportion).

thus, my goal for this christmas: buy local, handmade, and/or charity-benefitting gifts. pretty much a list of things i've been eyeing lately and solemnly promise not to buy for myself (at least until after christmas). people tell me i'm hard to shop for, so i'll help y'all out here. plus, there may be some ideas on the list below that may hit a few other people on your list as well.

(side note: this list is just meant to reflect things that make me feel warm and fuzzy. if i sound a bit crazed, please forgive me.)

top of my list: water bottle awesomeness.

www.gift.water.org

i also love shops like ten thousand villages, which sells fair trade items from all over the world.. i can just see the little home grown herb garden now! (my roommate has a set similar to this, it works great and keeps things nice and tidy)

http://www.tenthousandvillages.com/earth--sky-herb-pots

i love overlooked.com! proceeds from their goods benefit different charities all over the world. and they're having a 20% off sale this week ("gift" at register). doesn't really get much better!

http://overlooked.storenvy.com/products/41842-ivy-vine-cuff-india

always liked passport covers; here's a great one:

http://overlooked.storenvy.com/products/41867-world-passport-cover-india

(there's also a similarly patterned journal on there than looks wonderful. they've just added a ton of new items and they're all pretty much fantastic)

if you're so inclined, i'd encourage you to think about how important using disposable or over-the-top gift wrap really is. and perhaps recognize the fact that 99% of it will go straight to the landfill. this blog gives a nice summation of how to make gift wrapping easy, meaningful, and earth friendly:

http://simplemom.net/eco-friendly-and-green-gift-wrapping-ideas-for-this-holiday-season/

over the years i've started getting & giving gifts wrapped in vintage/retro fabric (i collect anything with a good pattern for various projects), repurposed paper/art (skirt magazine is perfect for this), and, my personal fav, reusable bags. so much easier to tie a big bow on a bag with the present inside, and that way your gift wrap becomes part of the present. you can do this with canvas bags, totes, bags made from recycled materials, etc.. they're everywhere these days, and available at any price (roomie and i recently scored half a dozen canvas totes to wash and paint at a flea market for less than $1 altogether). the best and most practical that i've come across for everyday use: the flip n' tumble.

http://www.flipandtumble.com/shop.html

it wads up into a nice neat little bag (no folding or careful rolling or any of that junk) within seconds, and flip (and tumbles) open with even more ease. it's pretty much the best thing since sliced bread.

the following may not adhere too strictly to my criteria, but are just too cool not to put on my wish list..

set of 50 vintage stamps from anthropologie. i was shocked to see they're $6. SIX. usually anthropologie gives me the opposite kind of sticker shock...

http://www.anthropologie.com/anthro/catalog/productdetail.jsp?id=073590&parentid=BAYNOTE

this at least promotes handmade things.. i've never tried crewel, but i've been mulling over it for awhile now and just discovered these fantastic kits! call me a grandma, but i think i could do some really cool things with these..

http://www.purlsoho.com/purl/products/item/7249-Custom-House-Pressed-Ferns-Woodland-Scrapbook-Crewel-Kit-

http://www.purlsoho.com/purl/products/item/7608-Custom-House-Sunshine-Bouquet-Crewel-Kit

and i may need this to help learn some techniques:

http://product.half.ebay.com/_W0QQprZ71116461QQcpidZ1390573046

really random... but a bias tape maker would be really super (so many projects in mind, and i'm so awful at making bias tape!):

http://www.purlsoho.com/purl/products/item/2434-Clover-Bias-Tape-Maker-25-mm

this is just lovely..

http://www.modcloth.com/store/ModCloth/Womens/Oh+Pear+Bracelet

this is too cute..

http://www.modcloth.com/store/ModCloth/Womens/Accessories/Bags/Meta+pic+tional+Phone+Pouch

awesome idea..

http://www.coolstuffcheap.com/m-cups-measuring-cups.html

grow crystals in a jar.. so cool. (i'm an air sign, btw)

http://www.urbanoutfitters.com/urban/catalog/productdetail.jsp?id=17220526&navAction=jump&isProduct=true&parentid=MORE%20IDEAS&isProduct=true&cross-sell=true&guide-bn=true

and this was just too bizarre to leave out:

http://www.modcloth.com/store/ModCloth/Womens/Accessories/Wallets/Peanut+Butter+and+Jam+Wallet

that's all for now! time to finally post this thing and hope all the pictures work..

weekend-turned-weeklong project

finally finished my dresser makeover! after sanding, cleaning, painting, and coating with polyurethane, i had to wait another 48 hours for the stench to fade to move it from the porch to the bedroom. i got a little impatient at some parts, so i'm not 100% satisfied with it, but i think i'll like it more once i add a few more elements to the room. and i like that i got it at the SC thrift and resale, which benefits womens charities here in charleston.

before:




















the dresser, right before i started painting-- almost forgot to take a before picture!





















the previous drawer handles. buh bye!






















i picked a teal by olympus called "french riviera"... and yowza, it turned out quite bright. the next pic is the finished project, but taken in a darkened room..





















*le fin!*

now to rehang the mirror, find a headboard, get another curtain installed, an accent chair, and perhaps an antique trunk... plenty to look forward to there.

more pictures to come, once i resolve these arrangements with my ocd...

off the coast of carolina..

been in Charleston since late May, moving into a new apartment, etc... pics and lots more updates soon. I've been nannying and babysitting for several families while taking a UD biology class and preparing for the GRE. One more (part-time) semester at Wake and I'm all done! For my spring semester off I'll be working full-time (probably nannying) to pay off this bundle of joy:



















As you can tell, I'm pretty much in love with my 2010 Malibu. Never thought I'd get another chevy after the death trap that was Gladys (see exhibit A:)





















... but the malibu definitely won me over.


I've had a lovely summer here in SC-- more pics to come soon of the apartment, and probably a post about my porch garden as well. For now, I'll leave you with one of my favorite things about the south-- these adorable lizards! Forget their name but I get so happy when I see them.. always reminds me of trips to visit my grandparents and seeing these little brown and green lizards running around pathways and windows :)





















(PS- there's no zoom on my phone's camera. I actually got this close to one!)

failblog.

really haven't updated this much, but in my defense i've kept a really great scrapbook! maybe i'll take some pictures and post them here..

and i just realized, i never posted about my barcelona adventure! at the time it was a fiasco, but in the end it was still an amazing trip. spain was definitely not to be when the airports were down and the train workers in the south of france decide to go on strike. really not cool. but, after a verrry long bus ride to frankfurt and a rather speedy train from frankfurt to vienna, i made it back and was able to make up my german final (alles gut!). very glad to know a decent amount of spanish, french, and german-- it was a very long, very eventful trip! even learned some finnish as well from some new friends i met during my extended stay in an awesome city.

i also made it to salzburg to see my friend lauren who's studying there for a year, and besides that i've been biking around vienna (really must start biking when i get back to the states.. i'm absolutely hooked!) and really getting to know the city. it's so hard to leave (i even sold back the bike today.. very hard to let go of my faithful steed) but i'm also really excited a summer in charleston! i plan on keeping the blog updated once in awhile with pictures and news, so check back from time to time!

finals are over and i've even packed (VERY thankful that we have a scale in the house-- my bags are stuffed!).. spent my last day in vienna (last final was yesterday) doing last minute errands and relaxing in a kaffeehaus by st stephen's... agh i'm really going to miss vienna!!

some pictures to make up for my bad blogging....

barcelona beach at sunset

la pedrera, barcelona

salzburg sound of music cow!

Happy Easter

... belatedly! Got back from Budapest on Saturday night and I walked so much in that city that I ended up slightly crippled.. must have bruised or sprained my right foot because by Saturday morning I could barely walk at all.

view of Buda Castle from the Chain Bridge

Turned out to be a hidden blessing that we had so much work to do this week-- I actually didn't even leave the house again until today when we went to the Sigmund Freud museum! Glad to be feeling almost 100% better now, as tomorrow we're climbing to the top of the Karlskirche , and this weekend we have a group trip to Krakow and Auschwitz.

On Sunday we made a wonderful Easter dinner: steamed asparagus, garlic and rosemary mashed potatoes, leek and potato casserole, marinated chicken, and baked apple pie :)

I myself only made the asparagus and garlic and rosemary potatoes, but for the chicken we used a marinade that was about half apricot jam and half regular mustard. absolutely delicious! I don't eat chicken often but this was a worthy exception.

i've never actually steamed asparagus before but it was so easy to do that now i'm pretty much hooked. cooking in our kitchen has me making a mental list of kitchen items i want to shop for when i go back home.. a garlic press, a steamer, a juicer... the garlic and rosemary mashed potatoes are pretty self explanatory, i just eyeballed the different ingredients and mixed them all together after boiling the potatoes and sauteeing the garlic. i also discovered that if it gets a bit dry, you can revive leftovers with a couple teaspoons of canola oil before you reheat it in the microwave.

i'll try to post again soon!

bicycle!

bought a bicycle on wednesday and i'm absolutely hooked. vienna's pretty bike friendly; where there aren't bike paths, you just bike on the road with the cars (yes i know, this would never work in america). i always wanted to try driving in europe, and this is probably the closest i'll get! the city is now so much more accessible and i don't need a bus pass, so i'm staying here this weekend and exploring :)

recipes!

with so much going on i haven't had the courage to tackle coverage of our awesome trip to italy, so in the meantime let me just say that i'm loving the kitchen we have here! with fresh produce from the naschmarkt, there's always something yummy to make. i'm terrible at following recipes, so here's two that i've come up with and love to make. they're really simple but

1. vEGGies

you'll need:

2-3 tsp olive oil

some salt

1/3 onion, chopped

1/3 red bell pepper

(optional: spinach)

2 large free-range eggs, whisked in a bowl with a tsp of butter and a dash of milk

handful shredded gouda cheese

3 or 4 cherry tomatoes, diced (really should be cherry tomatoes)

what to do: heat olive oil and a dash of salt in a medium pan on medium-low. once it heats up, add onion and bell pepper and wait for onion to start to brown. then add spinach if desired (highly recommended). once spinach is cooked add in egg mixture and stir. just before the eggs are done cooking, sprinkle in the gouda cheese and a little more salt if desired. when cheese is melted in, serve with tomatoes on top and enjoy :)

2. veggie fried rice

you'll need:

2-3 tsp olive oil

chopped onion, red bell pepper, zucchini, snap peas (and other veggies if desired)

1 free-range egg

1/2 cup rice

chicken broth (here we have tablets (i use 1/2 of one per 1/2 cup rice) , not sure if they have the tablet form in the states??)

some salt

what to do: heat olive oil and a dash of salt in large sauce pan as you boil 1/2 cup of rice in 1 cup water in a pot (with chicken broth to add flavor). add veggies to the pan, one at a time (onion first, then bell pepper and zucchini, peas last). when veggies are cooked, crack the egg and stir in with the veggies. add a little salt if desired. when rice is cooked, stir it into the pan and cook for 5-10 minutes (you may need to add a little more olive oil and salt as it cooks). the rice won't be very brown but it's quite good :) makes about 2 side servings.

now if i could just make gelato...